Pursuit

by Val St. Crowe

  But actually having sex?

  Well, that was a rarity. They were rarely afforded enough privacy, nor did they have near enough energy for it on the streets. Like as not, they were starving and cold, and it was the last thing on either of their minds.

  So, when they’d finally gotten together the money to book this ship—well, they hadn’t so much gotten it together as they had lucked into a good steal, picking a drunk, passed-out man’s pockets on the street one day—she’d thought that they’d get a chance to start doing it more regularly.

  But Orion was shy. He said the walls on the ship were thin and he didn’t fancy the idea of everyone hearing them.

  Jinnifer said they could be quiet.

  He said it made him uncomfortable.

  She couldn’t believe it. She wasn’t quite intelligible about such things, and she’d never done the act with anyone besides Orion, but she had the idea that boys—men—were supposed to be more interested in doing it than girls were. But she was the one always bringing it up, always trying to pique his interest. And he was always coming up with some kind of excuse. She was beginning to think that there was something wrong with her, that he was avoiding it because he didn’t know how to tell her that she was bad at it or something.

  But when Orion heard the last thing she’d said, a sly sort of grin came over his face. He arched an eyebrow. “Alone, huh?” he said suggestively.

  She grinned and bounded over the cabin to the bed where he was sitting. The mattress was narrow and thin and folded down from the wall. It wasn’t going to be easy to be intimate on top of it, but she was pretty sure they could figure it out if they put their minds to it.

  He stood up and caught her by the waist, his lips meeting hers.

  She slammed her eyes shut, pressing close to him. She loved kissing Orion. It always made her feel good all over, kind of tingly and excited.

  They kissed hard, clinging to each other, until they tumbled back onto the narrow bunk. There, they rolled around a little, still kissing, until she came up for air, gasping.

  Orion was lying underneath her, and she was straddling him.

  He looked her over, a small smile playing at his lips. His fingers eased under the hem of her shirt, touching her belly.

  She gasped at the sensation and suddenly felt shy. She shook her head.

  He raised his eyebrows. “I thought you wanted this.”

  “You first.” She pointed at his shirt.

  He laughed, relieved, and pushed himself up enough to yank his shirt over his head.

  She smiled, taking him in. Orion wasn’t one of those men with huge shoulders and big muscles. He was young. He was wiry. They didn’t eat enough, either, so she could see some of his ribs. Not that she cared about how skinny he was. She loved him. He was hers, and he was beautiful. She ran her fingers over his chest and stomach.

  He shut his eyes and pulled her down to kiss him again.

  The kiss seemed deeper and sweeter this time, full of promise. She felt shivery with excitement.

  When she pulled away, she straightened.

  He watched her eagerly.

  Slowly, she lifted her shirt up, baring her belly button.

  His lips parted.

  She lifted it higher, exposing the band of her bust supporter.

  He gazed at her intently, obviously enjoying the view.

  She liked that he liked looking at her. It made the shivery feeling even more intense. She tugged her shirt over her head. Now, she was only in her supporter.

  He broke into a big grin.

  She felt consoled and excited and good. There wasn’t anything wrong with her after all. He did like her. She writhed a little, grinding her pelvis against his.

  He groaned.

  One hand behind her supporter on the clasp, one hand holding up the cups, she unhooked her supporter. The back fell open, but she held the rest of it up over her skin. Slowly, inch by inch, she revealed herself to him.

  He couldn’t tear his gaze away from her.

  Finally, she let the supporter drop. The rush of air against her nipples made them tighten. She sucked in breath.

  “Jinnifer,” breathed Orion. “You are—”

  A loud bang on the door.

  They both turned to look.

  Something had dented the door inward.

  Another bang.

  The door crumpled.

  Jinnifer let out a little cry, fumbling to cover herself, fumbling for her shirt.

  Orion leaped off the bed, putting his body between her and the door.

  And the door buckled inward, tearing away from the door frame. Something stalked inside.

  Jinnifer shrieked.

  It had red skin and long arms that ended in spiky claws. Its mouth was open and hungry and wide.

  Orion looked around, frantic, for some kind of weapon.

  Jinnifer cowered on the bed. All she seemed to be able to do was scream.

  And then the thing lifted its long arm and punched it into Orion. It punctured his chest, sending blood everywhere.

  “No!” said Jinnifer.

  The thing removed its arm and claw.

  Orion turned to Jinnifer, clutching his chest with one hand, reaching for her with the other.

  She reached for him.

  But the light went out in his eyes, and he fell to the floor in a heap, lifeless.

  “No,” said Jinnifer again, but this time it was a whisper. She looked up at the thing, at its gaping mouth.

  It stepped over Orion’s body and came for her.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Eve sat down hard on the floor, panting. She’d been doing the best that she could to get the pipe that went to the sink disconnected, thinking it would be the best she could do for a weapon when the vidya showed up. She was almost certain it would, even though she hoped it wouldn’t. Maybe the vision had been of some other time, some distant future.

  She doubted it, however.

  If only she could have made someone believe her. But now, she was going to die, and Pippa was going to die, and for all Eve knew, everyone on the ship would die too.

  A banging at her door.

  Eve screamed.

  “It’s me!” said a voice from beyond the door.

  “Pippa?” Eve rushed to the door.

  “I’m trying to figure out how to use the captain’s key to unlock this door,” said Pippa.

  “Pippa,” said Eve, “look behind you.”

  “Why?” said Pippa.

  “Because in my vision, you were outside my door when you died.”

  “What?” Pippa’s voice was a screech. “You said it happened on the planet, not in the ship.”

  “I didn’t say that,” said Eve. “No one gave me a chance to explain where it happened or when. Is there anything there?”

  “No,” said Pippa softly. “The corridor looks empty.”

  Eve let out a breath.

  “But I thought I heard something.” And now Pippa was whispering. “The other passengers, that girl and guy, I thought maybe they were…”

  “What?” said Eve.

  A long silence. Then: “The door to the cabin. It’s gone.”

  “What door? What cabin? What do you mean, gone?”

  Nothing from outside.

  “Pippa?”

  She waited.

  “Pippa, are you out there?”

  Pippa was dead, wasn’t she? If so, it had been quick and silent. The vidya had punched its claws through Pippa’s body, just like the vision, and now Pippa was slowly, quietly choking on her own blood outside the door. Any second, the vidya would rip Eve’s door open and burst in to kill her.

  “Hold on,” came Pippa’s voice. “I’m getting you out of there. We have to get off the ship.”

  She was alive! “Okay,” said Eve.

  “It killed them, Eve. They’re dead.” Pippa’s voice was cold somehow, determined and icy in a way that Eve had never heard before.

  Eve put her hand to her mouth.
/>   And then suddenly, the door slid open, and there was Pippa.

  It was a scene that looked so much like her vision that Eve nearly screamed. Pippa was in the same position, wearing the same clothes. The only difference was that she wasn’t smiling.

  Eve tackled her friend, moving on some kind of instinct.

  “Hey!” said Pippa.

  But then the vidya dropped down from the ceiling, where it had been waiting all this time. It sized the girls up with its beady black eyes. “Eve Harlowe?” Its voice was like dry leaves.

  * * *

  Gunner cleared the gate of the outpost, walking as fast as he could. He was about to break into a run. He wanted to leave this place as far behind him as he could. The carnage reminded him too much of other scenes he’d seen in the war, human bodies strewn across the ground like they meant nothing. To the Xerkabah, they didn’t.

  Saffron caught him by the shoulder and turned him around. “You agree, captain? This the work of the vidya?”

  He put his finger in her face. “We don’t have time to talk about this. It could be anywhere. It could jump on us at any moment.”

  “It?” said Breccan. “One of them did this?”

  Gunner looked around. “Could be more, but it’s probably just one. One of them could easily take a whole outpost by surprise like this.” He shook his head. “What I don’t understand is how the Xerkabah even knew they were here. We were so careful.” But he didn’t have time to think about this. They needed to move before the thing came at them. They were all armed, so maybe they’d have a chance of killing it, but he’d seen one of them destroy ten armed men before. It ripped through them like nothing. He started walking again. “Let’s go.”

  “Captain,” said Saffron, catching up to him. “Call Pippa on the cator.”

  He let out a harsh sound of frustration.

  “Fine, I’ll do it,” said Saffron, snatching the cator off his belt.

  He walked faster.

  Behind him, he heard Saffron’s earnest voice on the cator. “Outpost team to Star Swallow. Come in.”

  Nothing on the cator but static.

  “Pippa,” said Saffron. “Pippa, where are you?”

  CHAPTER NINE

  The vidya crouched on the floor, its head moving in tiny ticking movements, like the hand on a clock.

  Eve and Pippa were a jumble of limbs in front of Eve’s door.

  Pippa’s breath was loud and hoarse. Her eyes were wide.

  Eve scrambled off her, giving the other girl’s body a push down the corridor. “Go.”

  Pippa landed on her hands and knees, still gasping. “Eve—”

  “It wants me.” Eve got her feet slowly, eyes on the vidya. “Isn’t that right?”

  The vidya stood too, and now its wide mouth was almost smiling. “Fought through them all to find you.”

  “Go!” Eve screamed. She reached behind her, grabbing onto the door frame.

  Pippa looked back and forth between the vidya and Eve and then got half upright, clutching the wall. She started down the corridor in a halting, hesitant run.

  “Killed them all to find you.” The vidya’s voice was strange and distorted—its mouth not made for human speech. It reached out one of its long, long arms. Spiky claws came for Eve.

  Eve pushed off from the door frame into the corridor, narrowly missing the claws by inches. “Pippa!” she screamed.

  Her friend was darting into the other passengers’ cabin. What was she doing in there? It was stupid to go there. She’d be closed in.

  The vidya’s claws sank into the meat of Eve’s calf.

  Eve screamed. She stumbled. She went down on one knee, catching herself with her hands. The pain was vivid and harsh. She looked over her shoulder.

  The vidya’s head ticked to one side, sizing her up.

  She moved her leg, and its claws dragged through her flesh and muscle. The pain blanked out the world. It was too much. She couldn’t make a noise. She couldn’t cry. She was nothing but agony.

  But she was free.

  Her wounded leg was practically useless, but her other leg worked fine. She hobbled away as fast as she could. She’d forgotten about Pippa, about the fact she was in that room. She could only think about the hot gush of blood pouring out of her leg, about how badly it still hurt, and about how she had to get away from that thing behind her. She rushed past the empty door frame of the other passengers’ cabin.

  Pippa burst out, pushing a ruined, bent piece of metal—the door to the cabin. She shoved it down the corridor at the vidya, blocking its path. “Come on,” she said, taking Eve by the hand.

  Together, they made their way down the rest of the corridor.

  Behind them, they heard the sound of metal buckling as the vidya threw the door aside.

  At the end of the corridor, they could turn and go down another narrow corridor that led to the top levels of the ship, or they could go straight and the corridor opened onto the cargo bay.

  Eve started to turn.

  Pippa tugged at her hand. “What are you doing? We’ll be trapped back there.”

  “Got to get to the kitchen,” said Eve.

  “No, let’s get off the ship,” said Pippa.

  The vidya was there. It reached out both of its spiky claws.

  The girls both screamed. They dropped each other’s hands.

  Pippa fell down on her backside and slid toward the cargo bay.

  Eve careened around the corner and began making her way down the narrow corridor as best as she could.

  “Eve!” screamed Pippa.

  The vidya turned and looked at her, ticking its head back and forth as if considering her.

  Pippa scrambled to her feet. “Eve!”

  But Eve was deep in the corridor now. She could hardly hear Pippa. She came to a ladder, and she seized it with both hands and began to climb. Blood was pouring out of her leg. It was throbbing with pain. She couldn’t put any weight on it, which made it hard to climb the ladder. She had to use her arms—her upper strength—almost entirely. She shot a glance over her shoulder.

  The vidya was coming down the corridor. It reached out its long arms and ran its claws over the metal walls.

  The scratch of the claws was an awful sound. It set her teeth on edge.

  She climbed. She managed to get her arms to the next level. She pitched her torso forward onto the floor. She shimmied forward, pulling the rest of her weight behind her.

  Pain!

  Claws in her skin—her ankle—the one on her hurt leg.

  She aimed a blind kick with her good leg.

  The pain stopped.

  She hoisted herself up to the next level, letting out a groan at the effort.

  Once up, she scrambled away from the ladder.

  The vidya’s arms appeared at the top of the ladder. It was coming.

  * * *

  Gunner and the others were in sight of the ship when a figure came running toward them.

  They all had their weapons out in seconds, ready to shoot.

  But Gunner could see almost immediately that the figure was too small to be the vidya. It was a human shape. A female shape. Was it the girl? Eve?

  “Captain!” screamed the figure.

  And then he recognized her.

  “Pippa!” yelled Saffron, bursting away from Gunner to run to the pilot. When Saffron reached her, she threw her arms around the girl.

  Pippa pushed her off. “It’s in the ship. It’s after Eve. It wants Eve.”

  Saffron was shaking her head. “Thank the sun and stars that you’re okay.”

  “We have to do something.” Pippa looked at Gunner, pleading in her eyes.

  Gunner knew she was right. That thing couldn’t have his ship. He stalked forward. “The other passengers?”

  “Dead,” said Pippa.

  Gunner set his jaw grimly. He hadn’t known those kids well, but they hadn’t deserved to die like that. He looked over his shoulder at the rest of the crew. “All right, stay close. I
’ll go first, you stay behind. Pippa in the middle, since you’re unarmed. Calix, take the rear, walk backwards, shoot anything behind us that moves.”

  “Shouldn’t we split up to search the ship?” said Saffron. “It could be anywhere, right?”

  “It went back the corridor toward the upper level and the cockpit,” said Pippa.

  “We don’t split up,” said Gunner. “We stay close to each other. Don’t underestimate this thing. You see it, shoot for the head.”

  No more words of dissent.

  Gunner squared his shoulders and started forward. Part of him wanted to turn to jelly at the thought of facing one of these things again. The weak part of him. The human part. But he’d learned in the war how to turn that part off, and to become a ball of instinct, efficient and ruthless. He did that now, switching it all off, going steel and cold.

  He stepped into the cargo bay of the ship.

  The work lights were on, but not the main overhead lights, giving the place a shadowy, hollow light. Stacks of boxes haphazardly stacked to his left and his right, both tall enough for the vidya to hide behind.

  He went left first. One step at a time, clutching his plaspistol. Damn, what he wouldn’t give for some of those F68s they’d sold on Ganesh right now. The pistol was fine against humans, even against Xerkabah—of course, they were usually shifted into human form during an encounter—but against the vidya, he’d love to have something stronger. He moved slowly and deliberately. No way to hide he was coming. If the vidya was there—

  But behind the boxes was nothing but shadows.

  He shifted right, moving toward the other stack of boxes.

  Nothing there either.

  There were more boxes along the wall. These weren’t stacked high, and there wasn’t a lot of space between them and the wall, but it was conceivable something might be hiding back there, if it was lying down. Probably not the vidya, but it didn’t do to half-ass this. They’d be thorough.

  Gunner headed across the cargo bay toward the remaining boxes. When he got there, he nudged one with his foot, waiting for movement behind it.